


Second Chances

by nitohkousuke



Category: Kamen Rider Build
Genre: Gen, M/M, Post Series AU, SPOILERS FOR POST SERIES
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 23:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15806931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitohkousuke/pseuds/nitohkousuke
Summary: POST SERIES AUDO NOT READ WITHOUT WATCHING THE END OF BUILDSummary inside





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Katuragi Takumi lives his life wondering why everything feels off. Like something is missing.
> 
> ....And it is.
> 
> THIS IS ME WRITING TAKUMI IN BECAUSE BUILD FORGOT ABOUT HIM  
> first chapter is just rambling but it will get more plot after that god i hope i can stay on top of this and write it.
> 
> EDIT: I fixed the first paragraph. I'm so sorry I was a little drunk when I wrote this the first time.

There’s a feeling in his body that feels like something is missing. It feels like something isn’t right. It has existed for as long as he remembers and no matter what he does, it never goes away. For the most part, it only feels like he’s living life twice. He can remember things that haven’t happened yet. And it feels like his whole life is ticking up to a moment. A moment he has dreams and nightmares about. A moment that starts an entire slide show of a person who is him but isn’t. That leads into something like death and someone else. That leads into…

 

It’s fuzzy and he only gets glimpses in his dreams. No matter what he does. It doesn’t make sense. But for the most part, he’s willing to write it off as his brain obviously having some issues due to being too smart. Right? That’s all it is? Anxiety? These things happening in developing minds. It makes sense that someone as brilliant as him has a bit more a hurdle. Not that he ever tells anyone. He has far too much to lose to be labeled as anything other than perfect.

 

But his heart twists because everything feels wrong after a point. Like he’s living a life that isn’t the one he remembers. Because the Mars probe comes back empty. And there’s such a sense of relief that he cries. His father gives him a look. A studying look through his own tears. Like he’s questioning him. Like he felt the same thing. But Takumi writes it off as his father being disappointed. They’d put so much money into this project.

 

His father still ruffles his hair and asks him if he’d fight the aliens together. And Takumi looks at him for a moment before his eyes well with tears that almost feel like they aren’t his. Like so much doesn’t feel like his. And of course, he tells him that he will. Even though a part of him twists something about being used and not being good enough.

 

Good enough compared to…? Himself? Someone else. There’s a face and it doesn’t make sense.

 

But nothing does.

 

Because when he sees a poster for Lynks, he stares at the face before him. It’s one he knows. Because that’s not….possible.

 

Because when he sees Himuro Gentoku on the news for the first time, he cries into his hands in relief. His heart twists and there are a thousand words he wants to say but doesn’t even know how to begin. This is a man he’s never known. This is a man who has only just stepped into the public light. But Takumi knows exactly what his voice sounds like before he even opens his lips.

 

As long as he avoids him, he’s sure he can control himself. He’s sure he can control these weird feelings and memories. These things that make no sense.

 

Of course, that’s not what happens.


	2. First Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what I'm doing with this and school just started up so bear with me.

“This is Himuro Gentoku. He’ll be the one in charge of your department, and you will report to him once a week with your progress.” Takumi can barely hear the words of the women in front of him. Instead, he’s managed to lock eyes with the man now in charge of his department. The man who is entirely too familiar. The one who’s voice hurts and soothes. The one who looks so much softer and less fragile than he remembers.

 

But he shouldn’t remember because they’ve never met.

He shakes his anxiety from himself as he always does. Not that anyone has ever noticed. Takumi prides himself in his ability to hide his feelings from everyone. Not that he’s had a reason to. Why would he? Nothing has ever actually gone wrong in his life. Nothing that would cause the defense mechanisms he’ built up that reek of trauma. Trauma that matches the fragments of his dreams.

 

 

Himuro Gentoku seems to match his anxiety. It feels similar. There’s an unease that radiates from his posture. There’s the slight furrow of his brows and the frown. The search gaze. It’s too easy to read him. It feels like it’s something that he shouldn’t be able to do. But something that makes sense.

 

Takumi bows as he’s expected to as soon as he gets his head anchored back into the real world. There is none of that dream world of nightmares. This is a different man. It’s coincidence. After all, this man is someone who has been in the political world at least in the fringes for a long time. He’s merely seen him in places and his subconcious is constructing from there. That’s the only thing that makes sense.

 

“I look forward to working with you, Himuro-san. I have heard great things about your management. I know we will do well together.” It’s a basic script, altered enough that it doesn’t seem too forced. It feels wrong. For one thing, Gentoku knows absolutely nothing about renewable energy or even basic physics. Takumi just knows he’s going to have to organize and manage everything. After all, he’s just a figurehead.

 

“ _Do you know nothing about the basic laws of conservation? Of course that won’t work.” Takumi narrows his eyes, only barely keeping his tone civil knowing this is the man who is paying for his apartment and his entire project._

 

“ _That’s what I have you for...” A hand around his waist. “You’re more than smart enough for both of us.”_

 

He shouldn’t know that.

 

“….Katsuragi...Takumi...” He starts and Takumi can feel the way the words are heavy on his tongue. His heart hurts when he hears his name, and he’s grateful for his ability to control his feelings. He can feel his fave grow hot. “I have heard a lot about your work. I look forward to working with you as well...though I admit, I am currently trying to study up on your research so that I may be of more help. After all, this means a great deal to our government and the future.”

 

Takumi nearly chokes when he bows. That feels entirely incorrect in ways that pull his heart out of his chest. And yet, he’s immediately filled with pride. Pride because this is such growth….

 

Growth from what?

 

Takumi stares at him and he sees a man with slick back hair and a grey and green uniform. A man who lusts for war and control. A man who convinces him, though who is he kidding he didn’t need to be convinced, to create a weapon to….to…

 

 

Static. It’s frustrating. But of course, Takumi keeps it locked behind a blank stare.

 

“I would like to exchange numbers if that’s alright. I think it would benefit to stay in contact.” There’s a genuine smile as he says that, and Katsraugi can remember a man who looked him down as he said that. He can remember….

 

“ _Oh, going after the scientist? Didn’t think he was quite your taste. But you do seem to have quite the appetite.”_

 

….He can remember the way Gentoku looks when his mouth is wrapped around his dick trying to stay quite so the other researchers don’t realize what they’re doing. Though what does it matter, none of them would report them.

 

And his cheeks color red, unable to hide the vivid memory. Unable to completely mask his reaction.

 

“Ah….of course.” He manages to stutter out, unable to even look him in the eyes. And when Gentoku tells him the phone number, Takumi knows every digit.

 

There’s a memory of dialing the number and staring at it. Because even if he believed him would he really turn traitor? Did he care what lengths they went to? Didn’t he understand this monster wanted to destroy the earth. There’s a memory of dialing that number and hanging up right as Gentoku picked up.

 

“Why….don’t I also show you around the lab…?” Takumi says awkwardly unable to make eye contact. He hates it. He’s also not sure why those words even leave his mouth. After all, this time could be better spent working on things. Why does this man need to know anything about the lab? He doesn’t know how anything works.

 

“….That seems like a good idea.” Gentoku starts and he pauses. Takumi can feel the tension in the room. Tension over what? He doesn’t know this man. But there’s still a feeling like a puzzle piece has been returned to him.

 

So they walk around as Takumi feels like he’s choking. The words barely come out as he explains each room, each object, each person….and Gentoku actually listens. He makes notes. He genuinely seems to care.

 

It makes sense, a part of him echoes, after all, he’s not effected by the….by the……?

 

And it ends. The tour ends. Gentoku gets a phone call. He apologizes for having to leave. There’s something in his tone of voice that tugs on him and hurts. Just like this does.

 

“I’ll meet up with you in a few days. Perhaps we could get coffee?” It’s an innocent gesture, but Takumi remembers coffee being code for...his cheeks turn pink again.

 

“Of course.” Katsuragi mumbles. He doesn’t want him to leave. Not again. Not at least until he’s figure more of this out. But it’s fine. He has science to focus on. He has a project to focus on. He can drown himself in his work. Like he always does. Sure, he needs to get home to feed Sento at some point, but no matter what time he comes home that rabbit will look at him with a judging stare regardless. So he might as well work himself into exhaustion before then anyway.

 

So he opens up his desktop, types the password NightRogue into the box...and pauses again.

 

“ _Nightrogue?” The slicked back hair chuckles as he looks over the nebula gun. “An interesting name. I like it.”_

 

_Takumi can feel the heat pool in his stomach as he sees the suit up close this time. Not like the transformation so far away that maybe made him slightly….anxious._

 

“ _Good. It was designed with you in mind after all.” A hand pressed against leather, mental notes about the suit’s capabilities._

 

“ _Oh, did you know I would use this? Always so many steps ahead...” Takumi can feel the leer from behind his visor._

 

“ _Who else would be worthy….?”_

 

Taking a breath he stares at the desktop, trying to open up his notes to get himself back to where he needs to be. But this is the most active this has ever been. This is the most he has ever lost focus. The most these….false?….memories have ever seeped into his thoughts.

 

...Just who was Himuro Gentoku? And honestly…who was he?

 

What was all of this? These echoes of a world that never happened.


	3. Sento butts his way into the story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have absolutely no idea 100% where this is going im so sorry this took so long and im so sorry its so ramblely

The library is both a place he could imagine himself and a place he wouldn’t. Everything he could find here, he was sure to be able to find online. However, he didn’t have access to most halfway decent databases, and honestly, without a laptop or a decent smartphone (the small cheap phone that didn’t require him to exist legally yet functioned enough to keep him in touch with Ryuuga and that was it), browsing the internet for research data wasn’t enjoyable.

 

So here he is taking up an entire table covered in different textbooks on various subject of high level physics. There might also be an entire stack devoted to how to go about entering the media industry. He was completely serious about publishing Kamen Rider Build after all. His table must have been quite the sight to anyone who looked at it. And honestly, that was why when he got the feeling that someone was staring at him, he brushed it off.

 

A man on his laptop a table over, kept sending over glances. He fidgeted trying to type without being distracted. There was a feeling of wrongness in his core. Like being too close to something you shouldn’t be, but also being close to something you needed. Like a puzzle piece he wasn’t aware of fitting into a puzzle he thought was solved. Or maybe, he’d been ignoring. Or maybe a spot he’d put another piece in he’d made himself and pretend he was sane. He’d done a lot of that.

 

_I’m not sure I understand anything the first paragraph is saying. The intent is clear, but it’s confusing on the specifics. Perhaps we could meet up later, Katsuragi?_

 

He sighed looking over the text he received. It wasn’t as if he expected him to understand anything he was writing about. This was beyond high level physics. However, he wished he would just let him write the reports and be happy with baseline understanding.

 

Another world, another place, he would have, and maybe he would have felt frustrated. But that wasn’t what was happening now.

 

What was happening now was that there was someone who pulled at a string in the unsettling mess that was his stomach that no one had ever ever pulled in quite the same way. Sure, he’d said that about Gentoku and that coffee shop owner. However, this was different. It was different pull. It made him sick, frustrated, lonely, and some other kind of feeling that there wasn’t words for. Why.

 

But it wasn’t like he could just get up and head over there and demand to know what the possible connection between them was. He hadn’t done that for anyone yet, and he wasn’t about to do that now. But the world had given him reasons to talk to Gentoku. It had given him reasons to have a chat with the man who made surprisingly good coffee. Coffee that a memory that felt like it was from that set that made no sense but had an extra layer of wrong on top of it said was supposed to be disgusting.

 

They had a similar interest in physics. Surely, he could go over there and ask him if he was working on something. Perhaps, even, they were working on similar projects? That required a lot more social skills that Katsuragi ever had. Would ever have. He wasn’t Sento after all who could just say whatever came out of his mouth without caring. With his stupid naivety who fought for ideals he could never full wrap his head around. The world didn’t…

 

Who. He felt his skin go cold. His body go numb. Who? There was a name. A feeling. A person? That was what he named his rabbit. His father had always asked him why, and he’d always told him it was a fitting name. But why? Sento? Who was Sento? The name pulled the same string that this man’s face had pulled, and Takumi wanted to heave immediately. To leave honestly. Because this was...this was absurd.

 

Instead, the world decides to give him something for once. The strange man at the other table holds up a book that he has been looking for the past year. The library assured him it had never been checked back in, and it had gone missing. It was an incredibly rare book that was impossible to find online and was key to everything he was working on.

 

An opening.

 

“Where did you find that book?” Katsuragi’s mouth works for once before his brain can even remotely stop him. When did he get in front of him? When had he stood up? He was always so careful, so how did he let this happen?

 

The second Sento heard that voice, he looked up trying to mask the feeling that he knew was smattered across his face. He was much better at stopping his mouth from saying what immediately came to his mind. Because standing in front of him was Katsuragi Takumi. This wasn’t something he’d ever gotten to experience before. After all, their shared mental space was completely different. Most of the time it was with a mirror in front of him. Most of the time it was Takumi’s judging stare or exasperated look.

 

Okay, that was pretty much the same. He both looked like he was dissecting him while being completely judgmental in some fashion.

 

“….This?” Sento starts looking down at the book he’d actually found in his search for books on television show basics. It was strange that it was there and not the physics section honestly. It was one that he had wanted to read. “I found it in the wrong section actually…” Sento pauses trying to watch him. His existence set off an uncomfortable feeling in him. It wasn’t unbearable just…..weird. Was this how Ryuuga felt about Fake Banjou? It had to be different still. Sento wasn’t Katsuragi even if they had the same body. They didn’t even look the same. Staring at Sato Taro made him have that uncanny feeling. It always had however.

 

Sento watched as he stared at him before biting his lip and looking to the side. That was an expression he’d seen on that face before. An expression he was sure others had seen on his own face countless time. He watched as Takumi went through a series of expression that Sento knew as thinking. After all, he’d made all of those when talking to him before.

 

“I’m...sorry for rudely coming up to you. That book has been missing for months. It is...vital to my research.” Katsuragi fidgets, tugging on his sleeves as he continues. “I should...introduce myself. My name is Katsuragi Takumi. I’m working on a research grant on the topic that book briefly touches.”

 

Takumi immediately berates himself for looking away. It’s a habit he’s always had while thinking. It’s so hard to formulate when focusing on one thing. But he should be looking at this man. He needs to know why he feels so unsettled. Why he feels so relieved. Why he feels the need to call him a naive idiot, that’s laced with fondness as much as it is disgust. This man’s face is so easy and so hard to read. He knows that look. There’s sadness and excitement mixed in a way that's confusing.

 

Everything seems to be.

 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you! You have to be the best asset that the physics department has here!” He watched him speak and then immediately pause. There’s a layer of smug in that that feels almost self-indulgent. Why? Takumi watches him look away, biting his lip and searching the environment as if….he’s thinking. Their body language is scaringly similar. It feels….like he should have realized that.

 

“Oh, that must seem kinda weird. I’ve read some of your papers. I do some freelance physics work at the moment. I’ve peer reviewed your work a few times. I think we’ve almost worked together.” His tone is nervous, but there’s no lying there. Takumi would know if he was lying. After all, how could he ever think he could lie to him? After all, they were…..

 

“My name is Kiryuu Sento.” Sento keeps talking but Takumi phases out everything that he says. It’s just static. There’s so much static. It’s like Gentoku, but not like Gentoku. Because Gentoku felt as disconnected and lost as he did. They were both stumbling in the dark trying to find where the puzzle pieces they had fit without ever telling each other they were both working on a jigsaw puzzle. But this Sento? He felt like he had all the puzzle pieces he was missing, knew what the whole picture was supposed to look like, but acted like he’d never built one in his entire life.

 

He hated it. He hated not knowing. He hated someone having something over him. He’d had to deal with it so often with Evolt. With that smug bastard who knew everything and yet...Who? Evolt? That name he’d heard in his nightmares?

 

A part of him immediately responded to his jumbled thought process that it was what he deserved. After all, hadn’t he held information over Sento’s head for months? Didn’t he permanently lock memories that Sento still couldn’t access?

 

“-I’m really excited to eventually work in the physics department too. I know the two of us could do well together!”

 

“I’m sure you’re very smart, but I do not think that we….” Katsuragi frowns trying to figure out the words that he wants to say. Because should he call him naive? Is he naive? He doesn’t know him. Love and peace? Friendship? They’ve never met. “I mean...I...usually prefer to work by myself. However, if you have worked on my things in the past… I suppose we aren’t completely incompatible.”

 

Sento’s expressions are things he almost misses. There’s a nervous flicker across his face, before he looks relieved. Happy. But also….there’s something else he can’t place. Sadness? Something else?

 

“I look forward to working with you.” Sento says, before pausing and then taking out of his phone. The pause is short, but Katsuragi can see the way he hesitates. It’s almost like he wonders if he should be doing this.

 

If he should be interfering in someone else’s life because they remind him of someone else from somewhere else.

 

Katsuragi has been wondering that a lot too lately.

 

“We should exchange contact info!” Sento declares, taking his phone out with a smile. “It will be in our benefit I think.” And he turns his screen on to reveal a lock-screen of him and some man next to him who hits the same vein of familiar but just out of his reach.

 

“Your boyfriend?” Katsuragi says without thinking. Something he never does but here he is. Almost like speaking is thinking. Almost like this is comfortable and familiar.

 

Something he’s missed.

 

“….Ah.” Sento pauses, a light dust of pink of his cheeks. “Yeah. Well. Uh. Fiancee.” There’s another pause.

 

Katsuragi blinks a few times. Fiancee? Those two? Good. They were practically married before anyway. But there’s also something in his stomach that twists. Jealousy? That’s he’d never. Never what? With who? What mattered but science.

 

“But uh, yes. My fiancee….soon to be Kiryuu Ryuuga.” Sento shuffles, the hint on his smile as he says that.

 

Sento is almost too distracted by the butterflies in his stomach. About meeting Katsuragi again. Because the feeling is weird sure. It’s like meeting someone he knows he shouldn’t interact with. But it’s not quite the same. He has never really been Katsuragi Takumi anyway. They were never the same person. There are similarities sure, but they were never the same.

 

And besides, he missed this. Talking. Bantering. The good they could do together now that the country isn’t falling apart at the seams. Now that Katsuragi isn’t being torn apart by guilt. Now that there isn’t an evil alien man manipulating everything around them. And he missed….what was a part of him. Not that he thinks this Katsuragi knows anything about the memories he still doesn’t have access too.

 

But he also, hasn’t referred to Ryuuga as his fiancee since it was discussed. He hasn’t discussed this with anyone. So it’s a new feeling in his stomach. Sure, it was done out of necessity, but at the same time, he did it because he wanted to.

 

He’s almost too distracted that he almost misses the jealousy across the other’s face. And slowly Sento thinks, or at least slow for him, did Katsuragi ever interact with Gentoku? This is a different world. They are different people. But Sento knows of their conversation before the world was rebooted. The peace they made. That Katsuragi told Gentoku to stop trying to find him. That Sento was Sento and he wasn’t coming back. But now? Now Sento is Sento and Katsuragi is Katsuragi. They were entirely different people now. Different bodies. And different lives.

 

But also...Gentoku was a very different man after he became Rogue. He had a very different way of interacting. He didn’t have the drive or the ego that he had had before. And Katsuragi? Sento didn’t have his memories from high school to his memory being wiped, but he knew enough from conversations, the information he had at hand, and context clues. He knew the Pandora’s Light brought out people’s desires. It made them act on their impulses.

 

Without that….would they ever...

 

But Sento did vaguely remember the name that was on some of the reports he’d looked at last night.

 

“What’s Himuro Gentoku like? He’s your superior right?” Perhaps it’s a sudden question. Maybe to Katsuragi it makes no sense. After all, they were just talking about Sento’s love live. Or maybe, it seems like he’s trying to change the subject. Maybe he is. But not in the way he thinks.

 

Sento watches Katsuragi’s moment of surprise. It fades quickly into embarrassment and then into something he can’t quite name. Katsuragi bites his lip, looks off to the sides back and forth trying to make sense of the words in his head he assumes. Sometimes, Sento thinks he looks like he’s trying to piece together something that doesn’t make sense. Maybe it’s his own desire selfishly hoping there are fragments of the previous world in his memory. He knows it’s better if that’s not true. But part of him still wants it.

 

“Gentoku….?” Katsuragi pauses. “Ah he’s….honestly?” He looks around, to make sure Sento assumes no one is around to listen. “He’s a good man. I look forward to his future pursuits in politics. I am however glad he has no interest in science. I wish he would let me write the reports and stop trying to get me to tutor in him basic science. He doesn’t need to understand the basics. Just what I need him to know. He didn’t….” Katsuragi stops, and Sento notices a sort of disconnected look for a moment. A far off examining look. “I enjoy working with him...”

 

They’ve only just interacted now. Which means….they definitely aren’t.

 

“That’s good! He seems like a very good man honestly. Upstanding and like his father.” Sento swallows his pride for a bit of research because he knows this is the only way. “If I wasn’t engaged, I’d honestly consider him, you know? I have a friend who was interested….curious if you knew his current relationship status. I know its horrifically unprofessional, but in our field, if you’re not active, you’ll end up without anyone...”

 

 

And honestly without the Pandora’s Light, Sento wonders if they’ll never get together but only dance around the topic. Because he can see the way the tips of his ears turn pink. He can see the searching look get embarrassed and flustered. The way he pouts as he looks shocked and surprised and indignant almost.

 

“Himuro isn’t. He. He’s not. I suppose he’s…..” The pink turns to red and travels down to his cheeks, and Sento wonders if that’s how he looks when Ryuuga teases him. They share so much in common after all. “I….w-wouldn’t know! It’s not as if I’ve pursued him myself. I have no time for relationships. He is also a busy man. Perhaps, your friend should ask him himself instead of having someone fish around his them.”

 

Katsuragi has never felt so infuriated and embarrassed in his life. He can tell Sento is studying him, and that makes it worse. The question is so out of character for him, it has to be him fishing for answers. But why? Why fish for answers? What investment does he have in this? Why does he care?

 

“ _You should tell him before the final fight. How you feel. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”_

 

How he feels? He doesn’t even know how he feels about anything in his life? How should he know how he feels about a man he barely knows and yet knows more intimately than anyone else?

 

He snatches Sento’s phone out of his hands and puts in his contact information. He wants him out of his hair for now. But this conversation, as much as it pulls on things he doesn’t want to discuss, is comforting. It fills a hole he didn’t know how to name.

 

“Stay out of my love life.” Katsuragi says even though he realizes he should maybe not be able to connect those dots. He can see the surprise on Sento’s face. A searching look of hope but also fear.

 

“I would never interfere with a fellow scientist’s love life. I know how busy we are. No time for such things.” The mockery in his voice is the absolute worse.

 

“I have to leave now. Important government papers to write.” He says, his tone as even as possible.

 

His heart is racing.

 

Because this is all.

 

Sento hands him the book. The look on his face is somewhere between concern and teasing. It’s a look he’s seen before. Often.

 

“I think you wanted this right. I’m sorry for sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong. I suppose I just wanted to make sure you were taking care of yourself.”

 

And before Katsuragi can let himself pick apart his expression and what any of that might mean, he takes the book out of his hand.

 

“…..Thank you, Sento.”

 

And he heads out, more confused than he has been in years. But at the same time. It feels as if things are finally adding up.

 

Like maybe he’ll be able to piece this together.


End file.
